The graduate optometry program is currently based on the Forest Grove campus, which benefits the faculty, staff and undergraduates of Arts and Sciences.
Students of Pacific are able to receive free comprehensive eye exams with or without insurance. Students who need or desire contact lenses also qualify for 25 percent off the contact lens appointment-fitting fee. For students who prefer spectacles, or even sunglasses, there is also a 25 percent discount on the optometry clinic’s products.
Faculty and staff do not receive these same discounts, but are able to sign up for the Vision Service Plan through the human resources department. The optometry department also honors many other insurance providers and are able to bill directly for the faculty or staff member.
The clinic carries a wide assortment of glasses frames as well as prescription and non-prescription sunglasses. They have both low-cost and high fashion designs to choose from that are competitively priced and all warrantied. Plus, having the clinic right on campus makes it easy for anyone to go and have their eyewear adjusted or repaired by certified opticians, whether or not it was purchased from the optometry department clinic.
Students, staff and faculty are able to walk into the clinic anytime it is open to schedule appointments for exams and are normally seen within a week. In the case of emergencies, patients simply need to call and will be seen that same day.
The clinic is equipped to handle many forms of trauma and infections of the eyes. According to the Director of Clinical Management Deb Avilucea, the clinic has also “established strong relationships with surgical centers in the Portland metro area that allows [patients] to have pre-surgical evaluations and the post-op follow-up care” within the Pacific clinic. On top of that, the optometry department always has research being performed to try and improve eye health and study better conditions and effects on the eyes.
The clinic is open from approximately 9a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday with some early and later variations based on the day, and from 8:30a.m. to 5p.m. on Saturdays. For exact times students can call the front desk at 503-352-2020 or check the Optometry page on Pacific University’s website.
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